216 S. Center St. Statesville, NC
(704)878-9683

Signal Hill Mountain Bike Trail

Click on the sign above for a PDF trail map.

The Signal Hill Trail is something of a throwback
to the earlier days of mountain biking. The trail line has
been hewn by hand so it avoids that "freeway" type of trail that
results from building with machines. The property is broken up
by the rec department buildings, associated roads and an old model
airplane field. As a bonus, it is built on top of the old
Statesville landfill! Needless to say, this made trail design
a challenge.

Currently, there is approximately 4 miles of
trail. While there aren't any big climbs, there is a lot of
small hills and bumps that will keep you out of the saddle.
Recently, the open field sections have been eliminated making the
trail much easier to follow.

The trail head is located at approximately 370
Signal Hill Dr. (map below). Look for the gravel parking lot
beside the electric sub-station. The trail starts at the
information kiosk at the far end of the parking lot.

The first mountain bike trail, in Statesville, was
located on a couple of parcels of private land off of Greenbriar
Road. This was started as a "locals only" trail in the late
1980's. By the early 1990's, the mountain bikers were wearing
out their welcome. Word of the trail had spread and between
the lack of parking and people riding next to houses, the trail was
in danger of being shut down. Around this time, a group of
locals began discussions with the city about building trail on the
old city landfill. The property included a large model
airplane field and the parks and rec department buildings. A
very simple loop trail of approximately two miles was constructed.

The long term goal was to connect the Signal Hill
Trail to the Greenbriar Trail. By the mid 1990's it was
apparent that the Greenbriar Trail would likely be lost due to
popularity. With that in mind, the focus became the expansion
of Signal Hill. The city leased a piece of wooded property
adjacent to the landfill for us to use. This area became
the favorite of most riders with it's old hardwoods and varied
terrain.

Tweaks were constantly being made to the trail to
gain mileage and eliminate high-maintenance areas. When
everything was clicking, there was nearly 7 miles of trail at Signal
Hill and it was being ridden consistently. Word came
down that the adjacent property had been sold and was slated for
development. Several months later, we crested the hill behind
the Food Lion and were met with utter destruction. The entire
forest had been clear cut. We were able to clear some debris
for a couple of final rides but the dozers weren't far behind.

We kept trying to salvage parts of the trail that
was on the private property but it was a losing battle. Every
couple of weeks, our "saved" sections were lost. With just the
landfill sections left, the trail fell into disrepair and started a
downward cycle. Losing the private property put the trail
workers into a funk and very little maintenance was getting done.
Without maintenance, the number or riders decreased until the trail
became nearly impassible.

Fortunately, a couple of years ago, interest in
the trail was once again on the rise. The corridor was being
cleared and many of the open spaces were eliminated.
First time riders were often missing trail or getting lost which
frustrated them so the trail was simplified. Many of the "new"
trail workers were the same ones who worked on the trail over a
decade ago but there was also a good crop of new blood as well.
Several new trail lines were opened which included boardwalks to
traverse some of the previously unusable land. There is now
just over 4 miles of trail but it is the best trail that it has ever
been.

Stop by and give it a ride!

Who works on your bike?

When your buy or new bike, or bring your current bike in for
repair, do you know who works on it? Have they been there for
a week? Do they know how to rebuild your Sturmey-Archer hub
(or even know what it is)? At First Flight Bikes, you know who works
on your bike: myself or Wes. Between the two of us, we have
over 40 years of bike experience between us.